3/15/10

Sometimes it really blows my mind that some people prefer smooth ice cream to chunky. I am not one of those people. I am one of those people that will order the ice cream filled with lots of stuff. (I think I've mentioned thisbefore). When at the local ice cream stand I am that person scanning all the hand painted boards depicting all the flavors for the one that blatantly says "LOTS O' STUFF IN THIS FLAVOR" ice cream. My reasoning, (in case you care) is if you're going to have fattening ice cream (still fattening if it's smooth too) then why not go all out and have it with stuff in it. AND, (yes there's a part two), who doesn't love a little bit of extra texture and flavor with their ice cream base? Layers of flavor right? I know I need a little excitement in my 'there's gonna be junk in your trunk if you eat this ice cream so why not go all out'.Latest creation of ice cream is an apple pie ice cream. Chunks of apple cooked in brown sugar then added to an ice cream base along with giant chunks of buttery cinnamon pie crust. Was it good? Yes, it was really good, really rich and flavorful so one would only need a little bit to satisfy an ice cream craving.

Heat the milk, salt, and sugar in a saucepan. Split the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape the seeds into the milk with the tip of a paring knife. Add the bean pod to the milk.Stir together the egg yolks in a bowl and gradually add some of the warmed milk, stirring constantly as you pour. Pour the warmed yolks back into the saucepan.Cook over low heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom with a heat-resistant spatula until the custard thickens enough to coat the spatula. Strain the custard into the heavy cream. Rinse the vanilla bean and put it back into the custard and cream to continue steeping.

Chill thoroughly, then remove the vanilla bean and freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturers instructions. If you want to make the apple pie ice cream, this is where you would now add in the cooled sautéed apples and chunks of cinnamon pie crusts.

apple filling:4-5 large Cortland or any other flavorful apples (I don’t recommend granny smith)Fresh lemon juice2 tb of butter¼ or more of light brown sugarCouple dashes of cinnamon

Peel and cut up apples into chunks. Toss apples with the fresh lemon juice in a ceramic bowl, set aside.In a sauté pan melt the butter until bubbly (not brown), add in the brown sugar and let dissolve a bit, then add in the apples and let them cook down a bit—about 5 minutes while occasionally stirring. Recipe by dawn finicane. You don’t want to cook the apples thru, just soften them a bit. Cool completely before adding into ice cream

cinnamon pie crust chunks:one (or two) pie dough recipe (use as much or as litle as you desire)cinnamon-sugar

Take your favorite pie crust recipe and you can either bake this one of two ways. What I did was sprinkle the pie crust (generously) with cinnamon-sugar, then roll it up like a cigar. Using a sharp knife, cut the dough roll into ½ thick (or less) chunks. Place on greased baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees until light brown and crispy. The second way is to not roll the pie dough, but sprinkle the dough with cinnamon-sugar and just bake in a pie plate or cookie sheet as you normally would any pie. Recipe by dawn finicane. Once the pie crust is light golden brown and done, let cool and break apart into chunks. Let the cooked chunks of pie crust cool completely before adding to ice cream base.

Hmm, I'm of the smooth persuasion, but I don't have anything against chunky ice creams - as long as they are fruit, cookies (or in this case pie crust), or swirls or fudge. Chocolate chips and nuts (especially nuts) are the worst.But this one hits all the right spots. A la mode -- in one!

aaaah...apple pie a la mode in one easy-to-eat form. dawn, i bow to your brilliance. this is clearly the best ice cream ever, far and away superior to 'apple pie a la cold stone,' which was my favorite before seeing this. :)

Each time you post something new, I always end up thinking about it non-stop! I love the flavors of the ice cream even though I hate the texture of an apple pie and never eat it. This would be perfect.

I have to say Dawn, I prefer my ice cream smooth. Why? Well I love the feel of cream, pressing it to the roof of my mouth and letting it slide down my throat without ever having to get my teeth involved in the process. Thats not to say that I wont eat chunky and once in a while I am in the mood to gnaw on some chocolate while I devour my ice cream. Your ice cream here is and exception too because I would totally love this.

i'm back... and it's b/c now i want to try avocado ice cream ;) have you done it?? with a good squeeze of lime juice... perhaps like key lime pie? mmm, sweetened condensed milk... this isn't going to be light!! haha

about vanilla sugar blog

Unique eats, creative recipes, as simple as possible.What drives me to create? Seeing dishes in restaurants, meals created on TV, recipes in cookbooks/online, and I always think to myself why didn’t they add this or why did they leave out that? Love to question, love to research, and love to learn about combining different flavors and textures in recipes.Recipe creations please email: vanillasugarblog@aol.com